ENGLAND'S cricketers may be taking a caning in the West Indies - but Hounslow's young batsmen and bowlers are hitting the opposition for six.
The borough's team for the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games this week qualified for next month's cricket finals - held a few months before the main event in July.
They will be going for glory against the capital's best young cricketers at Lord's Indoor Cricket School on March 7.
Although getting off to a shaky start in the qualifiers at Harrow Leisure Centre, losing a few early wickets, they recovered to win all three matches - beating Barnet, Brent and Kensington & Chelsea convincingly.
The Hounslow boys have been coached by Heathland School's Andy Mawsom every week since trials were held early in January.
From those trials were gleaned a team of eight from schools across the borough - Manipreet Vanteddu (Feltham Community College), Milun Patel (Isleworth & Syon), Moshin Dawood and Akhlilesh Nair (Hounslow Manor), Jack Southby (Longford), Arunjit Sandhu and Bhavesh Pankhania (Heathland) and Alex Fell (Chiswick Community School).
The Hounslow girls team could yet join the boys at Lord's on March 7 if they win their preliminary round ties on March 1.
* To find out more about the Balfour Beatty Hounslow Youth Games, see www.hounslowleisure.com/leisure-sportsyouth-games.html , or call 0845 456 2856/57.
